UN agencies report that fuel shortages will force Gaza hospitals, desalination plants, and bakeries to close, indirectly killing many. “The situation is catastrophic. Civilians, especially children, continue to pay the heaviest price,” says Save the Children.
500 people, including two dozen Rabbis, were arrested in Washington, DC on Wednesday as thousands of Jewish activists and allies demanded a Gaza ceasefire.
After every ceasefire, Rana Shubair tries to imagine leading a normal life. In Gaza, the bar is set low and means not living under raining bombs. “Mama, who broke our house?” the neighbor’s three-year-old asked. His mother ignored his question. The following day the toddler announced, pleased that he had figured it out, “The Israelis broke our house.”
Israeli provocation inside the Al-Aqsa mosque made the recent fighting in Gaza a war of choice for Israeli leaders. US approval also made it a war of American permission.
The United States has played a vital role in the decades-long catastrophe that has engulfed Palestine. U.S. leaders must now confront their country’s and, in many cases, their own personal complicity in this catastrophe.
Palestinians across Gaza and the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem took to the streets in celebration in the early hours of Friday morning, as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas authorities in Gaza went into effect at 2:00 am. Meanwhile, Israeli forces are reportedly attacking worshipers at the al-Aqsa mosque compound, following a massive demonstration after Friday prayers during which Palestinians celebrated victory after the ceasefire.
The Palestinians have risen. It is time to rally behind them.
There is a long history of the U.S. opposing ceasefires when Israel wants to continue bombing.
“On Monday night I told myself I needed to sleep early in order to get up the next day to head to work as usual. I sat the alarm for 5:00 a.m. However, it was not the phone alarm that woke me. It was an Israeli airstrike targeting the home of Islamic Jihad senior commander Bahaa Abu al-Ata,” Aya Al Ghazzawi writes.